1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of filling an ink cartridge, a cartridge filler, a jig used for filling the ink cartridge, and an ink supply system.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There is known an ink cartridge, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,786,581 (corresponding to JP-2001-113723A), which is to be installed on an inkjet recording apparatus, so that an ink contained in the cartridge is consumed in a recording operation performed by the recording apparatus.
It is common that, when the ink contained in the ink cartridge is used up, the cartridge is replaced with a newly bought one, and is then discarded. However, the discard of the ink cartridge leads to an environmental contamination and a waste of limited earth resources. In this respect, there is a demand for recycle of the ink cartridge. As a method of refilling the ink cartridge, U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,711 (corresponding to JP-H07-60984A) teaches forming a through-hole in a casing body of the ink cartridge, for example, by using a drill, so that the ink cartridge can be refilled with an ink supplied through the formed through-hole. However, in this method, there is a risk that an ink delivery passage defined in a head of a recording apparatus could be clogged with debris or chips which were produced in the formation of the through-hole and then entered inside of the casing body of the ink cartridge. Further, it is difficult to completely seal the through-hole after refilling of the ink cartridge, causing an ink leakage and even disabling a normal ejection of the ink from the recording head.
Further, in the above-described method in which there is not provided a hole for allowing discharge of an air out of the ink cartridge, the presence of the air inside of the cartridge impedes an efficient refilling of the cartridge, thereby requiring a large length of time to complete the refilling of the cartridge.